We don’t need commission for ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members —Adeniran

LET’S talk briefly about the growing public concern on the worrisome state of insecurity in the land. What do you think is responsible for the rate of insecurity in the last few weeks or so?

What I see there, by virtue of my personal academic background, is that we are living in denial and this doesn’t help the situation. This is disheartening and then this is the time to be open to the Nigerian people and to mobilise them. This is nothing to be partisan about! It is something that affects the Nigerian people. It is something that does not affect just one section of the country, it is not something that affect a political parties. It affects all of us, no matter where comes from, no matter the ideological or political line. So, we have to admit the fact that we have a serious problem at hand. And we need to face that squarely to mobilise, equip the military to the maximum level possible, and mobilise the civilian population so that everybody will know that this challenge is a challenge for all of us. We need to play our own roles as a people. We must not, for political, or whatever reason, underestimate the likely consequences if things continue the way they are going in the country.

Before now, the authorities had consistently said it had succeeded in containing the activities of insurgents. What do you think has suddenly gone wrong in the system?

I think that looking and observing from the side lines, we have not effected a sustained effort in that regard. In other words, if we had maintained the tempo reported to us at that time, the whole thing would have been over by now. And by the nature of insurgencies, unless we are decisive, and you have your strategies that will really deal with the situation squarely in place, a nation or society stands the risk of having to be struggling with so many forces, so many challenges in different forms. So, before it gets completely out of hand, I think there is a need to be a review of our strategies. We should be more determined to contain the insurgency.

You talked about a missing link in the ongoing battle against the insurgents. What is that gap that is missing based on what you have observe so far?

There isn’t sufficient synergy between our forces. Then, the level of training of those in the affected areas. People should take cognisance of the fact that those we are confronting are also being trained and retrained from different areas of the world and we do not, as of now, consider it necessary for us to really do more in term of equipping the these people and also ensuring that we revive what could be regarded as the right approach. How long you keep the people in the frontline is also a function of our strategies and our morals and also to ensure that we de-rank the enemies, insurgents. Our forces have to be on top so that by the time we do that, we demoralise them and we make sure they do not continue to replenish. When they replenish, we are giving them more opportunities to be able to launch attacks against our forces.

Do you share the view, which a lot of Nigerians have continued to express that we need to inject fresh blood into the nation’s security architecture to overcome the nagging problem of insecurity?

Injecting the fresh blood into the security architecture is long overdue. This is because the more you challenge people, the more you bring in people, bring fresh blood that have equipped with new ideas and capacity to achieve much in the process. Don’t forget that fatigue sets in at some point.

A senator in the eighth Senate says we need set up a commission to take care of ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members, who will be reintegrated into the society. Do you consider his bill on the proposal as one of the options that should be on the table, now that the country is under frequent deadly attacks by Boko Haram members?

My expectation is that the North-East Commission (NEC), there is no way you can have people being brought in and people who are more or less surrendering themselves from among insurgents. You don’t just leave them without socialisation. That has to be done. But, when the North-East Commission was set up, the issues that ought to have been handled are the issues of rehabilitation of those who were insurgents before. In other words, you don’t just rehabilitate. The issue of the repentant insurgents should be accommodated within the North-East Commission (NEC). I do not subscribe to having too many bureaucracies. This will solve the problem. The nation needs to empower that commission to be able to deal with that problem. And of course, we should also do it in a way that it will serve the intended purpose. The purpose should be to really re-integrate these people into society and gainfully engaged. That could be done within a comprehensive review of North-East Commission and ensure that the goals that are stated will be achieved, not just by the provision of that reviewed regulation or law, but by getting people who will do the right thing there. I mean people with the capacity, knowledge, and intellectual capacity. We also need people with social commitment that will make it happen. It will be good for the national interest and for the good of the people that are coming behind. Those people will not dream of returning to insurgency later.

Almost every four years, we tend towards reviewing or amending the constitution; we have more or less been going through a vicious circle since 1999 on this issue. Do you foresee us succeeding in the current effort to amend the constitution by the National Assembly this time around?

We have been having conflicts of interest, perspective and goals. It is unfortunate that constitutional amendment is taking us this long in this country. It is something that once we are serious about it and we sincerely mean what we want to do, it shouldn’t take us this long. The areas of contention now know all along the identified over the years and when you go back to the period up till 2014, the issue of the National Constitutional Conference and so on, you see so many of these issues. So, let those involved seek more of the nation of the coming generations and of the feature of the. Once they do that, they will get it right. The Constitution will  be reviewed, not for the individuals, but for the generation yet unborn.

A new trend appears to have emerged with political parties seeking that the Supreme Court review its judgment over election matters. What does this portend for the judiciary and democracy in the country?

In Nigeria, we are over-stressing the judiciary.  And the judiciary should be at all times to address issues brought to it by the public. The unfortunate thing, however, is that the court suffers inadequacies in terms of number of those who are supposed to be there. We also have the disadvantage of not having what one will regard as ideologically oriented judiciary that will follow the rule of law to the core. And at the same time, their recruitment are also based on clear recognition on what they stand for. Some of us have advocating that we should have very young vibrant people at the bench.  Those people will have very long period of time to spend there; not just people who spend a few years there and retire. So we will be able to build very strong judiciary system. Nigeria is one of the most vibrant, gifted judiciary in terms of background and knowledge. But then, we really have not done enough to ensure that rise up to the challenge of sending to the Bench the required number of people so that there would not be this backlog we are having – shortage of staff. As I said, we see very bright people who are supposed to be at the bench. Unfortunately, they have not been there. An ad some of these people, even in the state judiciary, should really have been encouraged.

Does it mean you don’t envisage a situation whereby the current efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to get what they regard as a review of the cases that have been decided by the Supreme Court undermining the image of the judiciary as a whole?

Of course, they are working in that direction. Sometimes, I see it as some people wanting to make a mockery of the judicial system. Yes, when you have grievances, you taken it up. But then, whatever it is, whatever issues you have, I have always maintained that position that there should be reasons to justify why such decisions will be taken by the judiciary. So, what we crave for is for the judiciary to be firm, assertive in favour of the rule of law, justice, fairness, and above all, to work in the interest of both the law and people. This is because the law is  are to serve the people. So, whatever decision you take, whatever judgment you have, you have to factor in the fact that law s are not made in isolation; they are made to serve the purpose of people, the purpose of good governance, and to promote goodwill in the society. It should promote the wellbeing of the generality of the people so that people actually know when they are going to bench to seek redress, they will be treated fairly according to the law of the land.